A Christmas Wish and Charitable Gifts

As the year draws to a close, and we reflect on another great year at Retail Assist, our thoughts turn to those who are more vulnerable at Christmastime.
For two years now, our chosen charity has been Emmanuel House, a homelessness charity based in Nottingham City Centre. The charity provides invaluable services and support to those who are homeless or vulnerably housed in Nottingham. Founded in 1976, Emmanuel House welcomes between 60-90 visitors each weekday and 30-50 on weekends. This equates to almost 2000 visits a month, with approximately 200 new visitors each year, all of whom have complex and multiple needs.
Having recently launched their ‘Cup of Kindness’ winter appeal, Emmanuel House is hoping to raise £40,000 to be able to provide visitors to Emmanuel House with food, drink, shelter and support. Last year, we donated half towards the total cost of Christmas Day at Emmanuel House.
On Friday, we held a Christmas fundraising day across all our UK sites – Nottingham, Northampton, London, Stanton Harcourt – including a Christmas raffle, desk decorating competition, fuddle and Christmas Jumper Day, and have raised £1000. It’s great that this beats our fundraising total last Christmas, as we raised £750.
Our Chairman, Alan Morris, said that: “Whilst we enjoy the Christmas festivities at this time of year, it’s more important than ever to remember the spirit of giving, and including those in our thoughts that are most vulnerable. With no statutory funding, Emmanuel House relies on donations, allowing the charity to continue to provide their amazing services and support to the homeless and vulnerably housed in Nottingham. Contributions will help to make a real difference on someone’s Christmas Day, in the form of a hot meal, a safe and friendly environment, and people to share the festivities with. That’s what the Cup of Kindness appeal is all about.”
Here’s some photographs from across our sites, of the fundraising activities we have been up to!
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Founded in 1976 Emmanuel House was established to support homeless, vulnerable and isolated adults in and around Nottingham. They provide services that meet the basic needs of the individuals who visit them, also providing support and advice to help those individuals feel empowered and able to start making positive changes in their lives.
Having recently launched their ‘Cup of Kindness’ appeal Emmanuel House aims to raise more than they did last year and still have a way to go before they achieve the £40,000 milestone. As a local Nottingham company we wanted to contribute towards this extremely worthwhile cause. It is more prevalent than ever, especially during the winter months and Christmas period to be able to provide visitors to Emmanuel House with food, drink, shelter and support.
This winter Emmanuel House is expecting a higher demand for its services and will need to increase funding to be able to respond to service user’s needs. The charity serves an average of 80 hot meals every day and also manages the emergency accommodation Winter Shelter for rough sleepers between November and February. The winter shelter provides approximately 22 beds per night to rough-sleeping individuals. Individual needs are assessed at Emmanuel House where, if necessary people are referred to temporary accommodation which is often provided in local church halls.
We held numerous activities over the Christmas period in a bid to raise as much money as possible. Through the sale of raffle tickets, Christmas jumper days, an office quiz and much more, we are pleased to announce that we raised enough money to contribute half the total cost for Christmas Day at Emmanuel House. This money will pay towards, Christmas food, a small gift for service users and decorations – all in a bid to make the day slightly better for individuals visiting Emmanuel House on Christmas Day.
Alan Morris, our Executive Chairman concludes;
“With no statutory funding Emmanuel House rely purely on donations to fund them and enable them to continue with the amazing work they are doing. The service they provide is never more important than in the winter, providing much needed services and support to the homeless and vulnerably housed in Nottingham.”…

Adventure Ashram is a wonderful charity whose aim is to support communities throughout India, helping to make education and healthcare accessible to the people and places that are hardest to reach. As such we are really proud to be supporting the ‘The Bullet Boys’ team on their adventures, motorcycling through India to raise funds for Adventure Ashram.
The ‘Bullet Boys’ are a group of friends who have decided to undertake an adventure that not only pushes the boundaries but also gives something back to those less fortunate than themselves. So they are taking part in a charity motorcycle ride, travelling over 2000km across Southern India in November 2014.
The ride will expose them to a huge variety of different terrains, from towns and cities to desert plains and dense forest trails, moving on to mountain passes which will prove to be a real test of endurance. The ‘Bullet Boys’ will be undertaking this challenge whist riding the famous “Royal Enfield Bullet”, a classic single cylinder 500cc bike which is now built in India. The Bullet uses 1950′s technology, so will provide another very challenging dimension to the journey.
The ride will be a demanding trek on challenging bikes and will certainly test the ‘Bullet Boys’ both physically and mentally, constantly testing confidence, spirit and determination. They will be able to enjoy and experience the dramatic and amazing scenery that India has to offer but this also means they will be exposed to some extreme environments and situations; needless to say this will not be a walk in the park.
Everything raised will go directly to Adventure Ashram. The ‘Bullet Boys’ are still looking for sponsors and contributions, every pound raised will really help to make a difference. Please click here if you would like to donate and help raise money for this very worthwhile cause.
Here at Retail Assist we are really looking forward to following the progress of the ‘Bullet Boys’ on their challenging journey and wish them all the best on their forthcoming adventure. We hope they not only make amazing memories but help gain the support funds they have worked so hard to obtain for Adventure Ashram’s Great Big South Indian Adventure.
If you would like to read more about the Adventure Ashram charity then please click here. Also if you are interested in our IT systems and support services you can visit our website: www.retail-assist.co.uk or get in touch, email: info@retail-assist.co.uk and telephone: 0115 853 3910. Also keep up to date with our latest news by searching ‘RetailAssist’ on Twitter and Instagram.…